The Desert Air Force (DAF), also known chronologically as Air Headquarters Western Desert, Air Headquarters Libya, the Western Desert Air Force, and the First Tactical Air Force (1TAF), was an Allied tactical air force initially created from No. 204 Group under RAF Middle East Command in North Africa in 1941 to provide close air support to the British Eighth Army. Throughout World War II, DAF was made up of squadrons from the British Royal Air Force (RAF), the South African Air Force (SAAF), the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), the United States Army Air Force (USAAF), and other Allied air forces.
Read more about Desert Air Force: History, Aircraft, Personnel, Strength, Commanders
Famous quotes containing the words desert, air and/or force:
“Or were I in the wildest waste,
Sae black and bare, sae black and bare,
The desert were a Paradise,
If thou wert there, if thou wert there.”
—Robert Burns (1759–1796)
“Then, that no region of the universe
Should remain void of life, the floor of heaven
Was peopled with the stars and godlike forms,
The seas became the abode of glittering fish.
Earth took the beasts and mobile air the birds.
A holier animal was wanting.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“The more we reduce ourselves to machines in the lower things, the more force we shall set free to use in the higher.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)